Drug Trafficking
Juan Antonio Hernández, known as "Tony," has been sentenced in the United States to life in prison plus 30 years for cocaine smuggling, among other charges. The 42-year-old is the brother of the president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández.
According to the prosecutor's office in New York, the convicted man's drug trafficking proceeds of at least $138.5 million (about 118 million euros) will be confiscated.
One of the world's most-wanted fugitives, the 56-year old billionaire Tse Chi Lop, was arrested at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, police announced on Saturday. Tse Chi Lop is the alleged leader of a vast Asian drug syndicate responsible for up to 70% of all narcotics entering Australia.
He was arrested at the request of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) without incident during a stop-over on a flight from Taiwan to Canada.
One of the most valuable Bitcoin wallets on the planet containing Bitcoins worth almost $1 billion dollars has been emptied on Tuesday.
U.S. Attorney David Anderson has stated that the money came from "criminal proceeds" linked to "the successful prosecution of Silk Road's founder in 2015" adding that "Silk Road was the most notorious online criminal marketplace of its day".
Samuel David Niño Cataño died on the Guatemala-Mexico border when the plane he piloted crashed. The plane was loaded with cocaine and had taken off Puerto Carreño, Vichada, Colombia.
La Nueva Prensa has released 49 pictures and research showing Cataño was a pilot for Alvaro Uribe in his senate campaign and in the presidential campaign of Ivan Duque. The pilot was also a contributor to the Uribe campaign and had two unjustified contracts with the aviation administration signed during Duque presidency.
A nephew of infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar has said he found a plastic bag with money worth $18 million hidden in the wall of one of his uncle's houses in Las Palmas, Medellín.
At the peak of his career, Escobar was said to be the seventh richest person on the planet.
The drug trade continues to flourish despite Corona and thanks to digital sales channels. In 2019, the offenses in this context continued to increase, with cocaine in particular increasing.
The German "Federal Criminal Police Office's report on drug crime 2019" shows an increase of 2.6% compared to the previous year.
Above all, the sales channels in the Darknet would take retail off the street and make investigations more difficult. The Berlin trend of so-called "coke taxis" (mobile delivery) would also increase constantly.
The federal government would like to continue to focus on prevention, especially in schools.
Police and customs officers at the Port of Hamburg have seized around 1,5 tonnes of cocaine. The illegal substance was hidden in a cargo container between bags of rice.
The illegal cargo has been found and seized in June already when the container was scanned at the customs office Waltershof and was scheduled to be transferred to a different ship to Poland. The rice on the container ship came from Guyana in South America.
According to estimates, the seized cocaine has a street worth of about €300 million.
Two Chinese courts in the Guangdong province have sentenced two Canadian citizens to death in two days.
The Canadian Xu Weihong had been tried in front of the Guangzhou Municipal Intermediate Court, while the now sentenced Ye Jianhui had been tried in front of the Foshan Municipal Intermediate Court for the manufacturing and transportation of drugs.
The police had previously seized around 218 kilograms of MDMA in the form of white crystals from a room that had been used by Ye Jianhui and Lu Hanchang. The latter one has been sentenced to jail time together with three other people involved in the operation. They received between seven years and a life sentence.
In total, four Canadian citizens have been sentenced to death in the past two years.
According to NBC New York, the United States attorney general William Barr is planning on charging members of the Venezuelan government for their involvement in illegal drug trafficking. Besides other senior officials of the government, the president Nicolas Maduro is said to be charged. Further diplomatic sanctions will allegedly be implemented.